"Sweet Freedom" is a song by Michael McDonald, and his last Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single's music video directed by

Leslie Libman Leslie Libman is an American television director. She also directed Television advertisement, commercials and music videos. Television work Since 1995 she works primarily as a TV director on a number of television series, most notably directing ...

featured McDonald, along with actors

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...

and

Gregory Hines Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for '' Wolfen'' (1981), '' The Cotton C ...

, in the film '' Running Scared''. In addition to being featured on ''Running Scared''s soundtrack, the song was featured on the 1986 re-release of McDonald's 1985 album ''No Lookin' Back''. The track peaked at #7 in the US, #12 in the UK, and #14 in Canada.

Credits

* Lead vocals – Michael McDonald * Backing vocals – Michael McDonald and

Siedah Garrett Deborah Christine "Siedah" Garrett (born June 24, 1960) is an American singer and songwriter who has written songs and performed backing vocals for many recording artists in the music industry, such as Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, Brand N ...

* Guitars – Paul Jackson Jr. and Michael Thompson * Keyboards –

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

, Anthony Patler,

Danny Sembello Daniel Sembello (January 15, 1963 – August 15, 2015) was an American songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. He produced recordings by artists including George Benson and Pebbles, and he had his compositions recorded by Chaka K ...

, Rod Temperton and

Larry Williams Larry Williams (born Lawrence Eugene Williams, a.k.a. Lawrence Edward Williams; May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams ...

* Synthesizer – Larry Williams *

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early 1 ...

– Wells Christie * Horns – David Boruff,

Chuck Findley Charles B. Findley (born December 13, 1947 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American trumpet player known for his diverse work as a session musician. He also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical abilities ...

, Gary Grant,

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', ''Rock with You'', ...

, Kim Hutchcroft, Bill Reichenbach and Larry Williams * Arrangements – Rod Temperton * Producers –

Bruce Swedien Bruce Swedien (; April 19, 1934 – November 16, 2020) was an American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer. He was widely known for his work with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand. Swedien fi ...

, Rod Temperton and Dick Rudolph * Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien at

Westlake Audio Westlake Recording Studios is a music recording studio in West Hollywood, California. History Westlake Recording Studios was founded in the early 1970s by the American audio engineer Tom Hidley under the name Westlake Audio. Hidley was experi ...

(Los Angeles, CA)

Charts

Safri Duo version

In 2002, Danish electronic percussion duo

Safri Duo Safri Duo is a Danish electronic percussion duo composed of Uffe Savery (born 5 April 1966) and Morten Friis (born 21 August 1968). Initially classically oriented, they later made a track mixing both tribal sound and modern electronica. Released ...

, featuring Michael McDonald, covered the song. It was released in June as the fourth and final single from their debut album, '' Episode II''.

Track listing

;CD maxi # "Sweet Freedom" (Radio Version) - 3:23 # "Sweet Freedom" ( Tillmann Uhrmacher Remix) - 7:35 # "Sweet Freedom" (Jan Driver Vocal Mix) - 7:41 # "Sweet Freedom" (Extended) - 5:09 UK CD Single (Enhanced)

Charts

In popular culture

* On June 21, 2010, the song was played in an episode of the British television talk show '' The 5 O'Clock Show''. * The song is the culmination of the storyline of the online video series ''

Yacht Rock Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast soundThat ' ...

''. * The song was performed in a 1987 episode of the children's music series ''

Kids Incorporated ''Kids Incorporated'' (also known as ''Kids Inc.'') is an American children's television program that began production in the mid-1980s and continued airing well into the early 1990s. It was largely a youth-oriented program with musical performan ...

''.

References

1986 singles Michael McDonald (musician) songs Songs written by Rod Temperton 1986 songs MCA Records singles Universal Records singles Songs written for films {{1980s-single-stub